Parker got up the next day in no mood to be a real person. He dragged his feet in the direction of the couch and sat down beside her, she placed a cup of tea in front of him.
"You didn't tell me if you got it," she reminded him.
"Get what?" Her friend said sleepily.
"A date for prom," Cat rolled her eyes. "What were you looking for last night, genius?"
He groaned. "Yeah, I got it."
"Where is it?"
"My suit."
She went to the bathroom, searched in the pockets of his spider-man attire, pulled out a vial that had no web fluid in it, and went back to the room to get her coat. "I'll be right back."
"Where are you going?" Parker straightened in his seat and winced a little, he'd pulled on the stitches on accident.
"To put this in your computer," she replied, shaking the vial in her hand. "Rest, you need to get better if you wanna help me."
"I'm okay," he tried to get up.
"You get up and I'll break your kneecaps," she snapped.
Parker sat down again, his hands up in surrender and wincing again.
"Good boy," she nodded once. "Be right back."
_______________
Nursing Parker back to health was tough work, he couldn't stay still for long enough. He lacked what Cat liked to call common sense. She'd also tried to run while severely injured the night he'd come back, but at least back then she had an excuse to be running.
At least his metabolism was considerably faster than a regular human's, so by the end of the week, his injury was nothing but a pinkish scar. She hadn't offered to help him clean the wound after the first night, she didn't trust she'd be able to keep her hands on safe territory, standing so close to him while half-naked.
If her Peter could see her now, he'd tease her endlessly, fighting against the urge to throw herself at a different version of the boy felt like a cruel joke, to have Peter Parker back only to lose him again. Next to having a family, having Spider-man around was always good comfort, but this was just inconvenient. He wanted her, and she still didn't understand why, when she was so problematic.
"I'm back!" Parker announced from the bathroom.
The young woman was in the kitchen, staring at the young man's laptop with a scowl hoping it would feel pressured to work faster. She didn't reply to her friend at all, too focused on her task. Parker walked into the room with nothing but a white shirt and his boxers, too used to her presence to actually care about wearing proper clothes.
"Always great to be welcomed warmly," he joked.
Cat's eyes were glued to the screen. "My tech wouldn't have taken this long to crack into a defense satellite."
"Yeah, yeah, your world's much cooler than mine," he walked up to her and stared at the laptop over her shoulder. "We still have better doughnuts."
"I said that one time and you take it like an absolute truth," she walked away from the kitchen. "You ate?"
"No, but I'm too tired for that," he yawned. "You?"
"Hungry or tired?"
"Your pick."
"I'm bored."
"Told you to come with me," he said, joining her in the living room.
"I don't want people to get used to me. Imagine the bad guys preparing to fight two of you but there's only one, they would kill you—"
"Jane you are such a beam of sunshine," he interrupted her, leaning his head on the back of the couch.
Cat turned off the tv and looked at him sternly. "I'm serious. It wasn't a good idea to accept the suit."
"Have you ever noticed," he said squinting a little, "that you regret everything you do as soon as things start to end? You did the same when little Pete erased your memory. You said you regretted hurting him."
"It's different."
"Nah-uh," he retorted, moving to face her. "Now you feel like you might leave this place, you think you shouldn't have gotten so comfortable in my world, that I'll be miserable, right?"
She didn't want to reply, Cat stared at the laptop far behind on the kitchen aisle.
"Is that how you felt when your brother died too?" He pressed.
The young woman swallowed with difficulty, she nodded once.
"I told you before," she said quietly. "I liked my Peter so much that when he vanished it took away the only part of me that had a purpose. I was never the same after that." She looked into his eyes, almost begging. "I felt a little like when I was sixteen while being in this world with you, but I don't want to leave you feeling like that. You've gone through enough already."
Parker tilted his head a little, staring at her softly. "You only changed for the better, Cat. The hurt made you more human. It gave you a real heart. You're everything that's right in your world... in any world."
She remembered Tony's note saying she was the best of them, the fact that Parker agreed on this with a person he didn't like... she was touched.
"You looked after others because no one else would, in your own way," he shrugged. "How is that failing?"
"I just wish..." she blinked rapidly, looking up and taking a quick breath.
"What?"
She groaned, rubbing her eyes roughly. "I wish I could be fully happy just once. Like when I was sixteen."
Parker reached out and caressed the side of her face with his knuckles, he pushed a few curls away from her eyes. "I could make you happy," he replied, voice barely a whisper.
"Dammit," Cat closed her eyes, and she sobbed briefly. "I got a crush on Peter Parker twice!" She whined. "It's a curse..."
The young man chuckled, his thumb stroking her skin. "I count it as a blessing."
"I know, you're lucky to have caught my eye, I'm a sex machine."
Parker laughed, he leaned in. "Don't ruin it, Jane..."
She opened her eyes. The hero's gaze was sweet, everything about it felt like the instant where it's cold outside but your bed is warm and cozy and you have five minutes to spare, she wanted to snuggle deeper into the blankets. She also wanted to fully ruin the moment like she always did, but his hold was unwavering, just like his stare, he'd got her right where he wanted her. His smile grew.
They kissed.
Cat held onto the arm that was supporting his weight on the couch, she pushed herself up and leaned into him. Parker kept her face in place, making sure that she would not slip out of reach, his fingers dug through her curls and landed on the back of her head, deepening the kiss.
He'd been wanting to do that for a while and Cat could tell, she was enjoying it a bit too much to believe she hadn't thought about it more than once too. Her hands pulled him closer by the shoulders and she heard him chuckle against her lips.
"You think is funny?" She mumbled in annoyance. "Why you Parkers always laugh—"
"Can't be because we're happy?" He teased her, kissing her jawline.
"My Peter did the same thing when—"
"Don't," he was quick to interrupt her. "Stop calling him that."
"What?" She blinked.
"Why is he your Peter and I'm a last name? Why can't I be your Peter?"
"You know why."
He frowned, but it looked childish. "I get that at first it was to stop the confusion but it's just me now, and you still call me Parker."
"If I call you Peter, you won't be my Peter. Being Parker makes you someone... someone that can coexist with my past."
He thought about it for a moment, and in the end, he sighed heavily, eyes landing on her lips. "Promise I'm not a stranger in your life?"
"What do you mean?"
"Tell me we're friends."
Cat looked at him with a grin. "This is not how I treat my friends..."
"Liar."
He kissed her again, that time felt desperate. His body moved forward and trapped her against the couch. Cat cupped his face and kept him close, trying to give him room so he fit above her comfortably.
"Just this once," he requested, leaving a trail of kisses down her neck. "Let me be your Peter..."
"Okay," she gave in, sighing a little. "Okay, Peter."
His arms wrapped around her waist and suddenly she was lifted from the couch, Cat yelped and wrapped her legs around him. "You're gonna hurt yourself!" She exclaimed in alarm.
"Oh, don't play dumb, you know I'm okay," he snorted. "I was only spoiling myself a little before you switched back to being mean."
"You're a pain in my ass," she said, too flustered with his response.
"I can rub it off you if you like," he pinched her thigh playfully.
Parker —Peter— lowered her onto the bed, he was grinning widely while taking off his clothes. Cat supported her weight on her knees, staring at him and thinking deeply.
"Come closer."
The young man chuckled, he just couldn't stop smiling. Cat didn't know why, but she felt challenged by it. She wanted to see if he could still laugh while she had her hands on him. The mutant grabbed him by the shoulders and threw him onto the bed.
"So..." she straddled his hips. "You're cured."
"You can see for yourself," he placed her hand where his new scar was.
"Hmm," she said caressing it lightly. "I'm done being nice, then." Cat grabbed the hem of his boxers and gave him a questioning look, Peter only lifted his hips as an answer. "Good boy," she pulled the underwear down and threw them aside. "Stay still."
"Cat—"
"My name is Jane," The young woman hushed him. "You said you wanted to be mine, remember?"
"Yes."
"Then let me do what I want with you, and be quiet." Peter closed his mouth and his eyes widened eagerly. He looked so keen to please her... Cat moved down on him, her right hand making its way up to his hips. "How long has it been since the last time you slept with someone?" She asked casually.
Peter's gaze was on her hand. "A while."
"Months?"
"Maybe. Maybe more."
She pouted. "That's not good, is it?"
"Probably not," he squirmed. "Can I kiss you?"
"No," she smirked. "And you can't move, either."
Peter breathed in harshly when she touched him, his whole body reacted to it. Cat liked it when people were this expressive about physical contact. It made it more fun. "Look at that," her thumb drew small, slow circles on the tip of his cock. "You're so touch-starved... I shouldn't like it, but it's so cute..."
"Your hand is so freaking cold," he complained, but it didn't look like he was hating it.
"I'm sorry baby, let me warm it up," she mocked him.
Cat grabbed his member with both hands. "Shit!" Peter closed his eyes and grabbed fistfuls of the sheets. He didn't dare to look directly into her eyes at the moment. "Don't stop..."
"Again with the orders," she clicked her tongue, moving away for a moment. "If you can stay quiet for five minutes, I'll let you touch me. Deal?"
"Yes!" He urged her. "Just keep going!"
Cat laughed, shaking her head. "You're adorable."
She went down on him, and Peter hummed long and heavy. That would've been a beautiful moan had she let him make a sound. Half-regretting her decision, she kept going, hoping the five minutes could go by faster that way.
Cat massaged the sides of his v-line with her thumbs, she'd been dying to touch that part of his body for longer than she'd like to admit. He was warm and soft, and she would definitely leave a mark there later.
Peter was almost shaking, all his muscles were tense, but he was still quiet. When the urge to breathe was too much she moved and left a small kiss on the patch of skin above his pelvis. Cat heard him inhale so deeply and desperately that she almost laughed.
The five minutes were over, so she sat up.
"Well done!" She cleaned the corner of her lips. "Extra points for holding back your moans— I really thought you'd—"
Parker didn't let her finish, he wrapped his arms around her, initiating a kiss that was urgent and rough. She felt him twitching against her thigh, so she snuck a hand between their bodies to grab him again. However, Peter caught her hand at the last second and moved it in a different direction, right to her center.
"Let me make you happy..." he whispered against her collarbone.
Cat looked at him in silence, she was still wearing clothes, but his left hand was slowly riding up the hem of her blouse, stroking her skin with such tenderness she felt dizzy. "Just a one-time thing," she wasn't sure who she was talking to when she said it. "Don't get your hopes up..."
A flash of something she didn't recognize went through Peter's eyes, but he didn't say anything. He took off her blouse.